Just bought a used '07 XJ8 and there are a few tiny wear spots. I don't need to repair the leather per se, I just want to do something to hide the white specks where the black leather has been scratched through. Some are about pin hole size, some just as round as a fat pencil lead. One auto detailer recommended a fine point black Sharpie pen, but before I try that I thought I'd ask for other ways to disguise these tiny spots where white shows from behind the black leather.

 

shoe polish works too

 

Leather dye. I'll send a pic of what I used tomorrow. Good stuff. Purchased from the UK.

 

I'm nervous about shoe polish migrating to any area larger than the spot and coloring the surrounding area. I suppose any liquid could do that, leather dye as well, so I suppose I just need a tiny brush with very very little amount of dye or polish to make this work. Thanks to abonano for telling me the brand of leather dye.

 

Its formulated for vehicle leather. It's actually color matched to my interior (charcoal) it's a paste. Can be applied with a Q-Tip and is massaged into the leather.

I would refrain from using a marker.

 

Sounds perfect. Please tell me the brand name and any contact info you have for the company. I'll check what my leather was called and see if I can find a match.

 

If you're in Canada or the US maybe check out www.leathertouchupdye.com they sell kits that you can use to refurbish leather. There's a video on YouTube that's about an hour or so long where the demonstrator completely refreshes a pretty jacked up old car seat, very repetitive but informative if you can get past him going over things a hundred times

 

Went to leathertouchupdye.com and should be able to find what I need there. Thanks.

 

Dye is fine and if that's what makes you comfortable, go for it. I've been using Shoe polish (paste, not the liquid) for awhile. It blends perfectly, but definitely follow your heart.

 

I ordered the dye, but have some paste polish. Maybe I'll try both someday and report on the results.

 

Hi wmlaven,

I have been using dyes and conditioners from Leatherique.com for a couple of decades and have had excellent results. Since you don't need much dye, you might look at their black steering wheel restoration kit.

I've never tried shoe polish due to fears that it might wear off on my clothes, but given Sean's success my fears may have been unfounded.

If your white spots are not badly worn, you may be able to simply use a small sponge to work a very thin coat of dye into the leather, finishing with nice straight strokes. If one very thin coat doesn't completely cover, do a second coat. Avoid stitching as it's easy to get too much dye on the thread, causing it to mold to the leather and look like plastic. If you have white spots between rows of stitching, use a an artist's brush with just enough dye to "dry brush" the area and stitching to prevent getting too much dye in the thread.

If your white spots are rough, you may need to carefully wet-sand the leather with 600-grit wet-'n-dry sandpaper to smooth rough edges. It doesn't take much to prep the surface.

You also need to clean the leather well prior to applying dye or any other colorant to help ensure a long-lasting result. Leatherique sells a good cleaner called Prestine Clean, but Gliptone's cleaner is less expensive and just as effective.

In the Leatherique method of redying, you condition first, with their Rejuvinator oil (the best leather conditioner I know of). This floats out contaminants from deep in the leather pores and softens the leather. This is followed by cleaning with Prestine Clean (or Gliptone Leather Cleaner), then prep with Leatherique Prepping Agent, then dye. I don't think you need or want the Prepping Agent because it breaks down the surface of old dye and you don't need to do that to your leather since most of it is okay.

Use your bare hands to rub in the Rejuvinator oil, but wear good rubber gloves when using dye!

Cheers,

Don

 

Thanks, Don B, for all that great info. I bought a little dye repair kit from leathertouchupdye.com which has dye & conditioner & cleaner in it. I'll follow your directions which are really helpful. It's also good to hear of good products. On the recommendation of the person from whom I bought the Jag I have some Lexol leather cleaning and conditioning products, too. I'll update folks on the progress of my little repair jobs. This forum is so valuable.

 

One of these did quite a good job for me - better colour match than a Sharpie
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAGUAR-Le...S/382118904815